Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi did not attend the foreign ministers meeting of the Group of 20 leading economies held in India on Wednesday and Thursday in order to participate in the fiscal 2023 budget proposal deliberations at the House of Councillors Budget Committee.
The budget committee's board meeting Tuesday decided to hold basic questioning sessions on Wednesday and Thursday with the attendance of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and all Cabinet ministers including Hayashi. It was also broadly agreed at the meeting to hold a general questioning session on Friday, which will be attended by Kishida, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki and other ministers who are requested to attend the session.
Coordination is underway to hold a foreign ministers' meeting of the Quad -- a cooperative framework of Japan, the United States, Australia and India -- in India on Friday. If the opposition parties ask to question Hayashi at Friday's Budget Committee session, he will not be able to attend the Quad foreign ministers' meeting either.
